Take a Breath (Take #1) - Jaimie Roberts Page 0,48
you must be wrong. He loved my mother and wanted to marry her.”
He shakes his head again with a slight tsk under his breath. “That was a grave mistake on his part. I think he was trying to kid himself that he could make it work with her even though it was a lost cause. Sorry, I don’t want it to sound mean towards your mother, but they were not right for one another. I tried to talk to Jake about this and even suggested that he picked the wrong Sinclair, but he nearly ripped my head off.”
I’m about to ask more when Alison walks in. “There you are, Bill. I was looking for you.” She then spots me, looking concerned. “Ana, you look upset. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, sorry, just boring Bill about my mother.” I give him a knowing look and Bill just pats my hand with a tender smile.
“Yes, that was a shock that she left. Have you heard from her?”
Well, if you count that sorry excuse for a letter as hearing from her, then yes.
I shrug my shoulders a little. “Only to say she was sorry, but other than that, nothing.”
I watch as Alison wanders over to Bill, and he protectively places his hand on her shoulder. “Well, you are her daughter. I’m sure she will be in touch at some point once she sorts herself out.”
Bill lets go of my hand and gives me a questionable look. One that asks if I’m okay. I nod back, and I think he’s satisfied as his stare immediately leaves mine and lands to Alison.
“Let me get you a drink, darling.” Bill gets up and taps Alison on the bottom, making her yelp. I burst out laughing, and Alison starts to blush.
“It’s lovely to see that,” I say, looking at them in awe.
Bill quickly grabs Alison’s hand and kisses it. “Married twenty-seven years, and she still sets my heart alight.”
Alison looks dreamily back into Bill’s eyes, heartened by his words as they lightly kiss each other. I’m so caught up in the private moment between the two of them that I have to excuse myself before everyone finds me a blubbering mess.
Leaving the kitchen, I head to the bathroom to freshen up. I also need time to compose myself a little after everything that both Jake and Bill have confessed tonight. My head’s spinning from it all. Could Jake really love me in that way? Surely not. He’s always been so straight with me and so serious. Until recently, he hadn’t given me much more than a slight inkling that the way he felt about me was anything more than platonic.
As I stare at myself in the mirror, the memory of us kissing makes my lips tingle. Without thinking, I lift my fingers up to touch them. I close my eyes, savoring that sweet moment in my memory. For a year, I dreamed of him kissing me. For a year, I had dreamed of him touching me like no other man has ever touched me. I knew from the pent-up lust in my veins from the past year that coming together for us was going to be explosive. I just never in my wildest dreams believed that it would ever come true. For me, Jake had ruined me. I was destined never to find anyone who would ever remotely come close to him. That is how passionate I feel about him.
With a shake of my head, I gather my thoughts together and open the door to find that quite a few people have already left. I look around the room and see Jake talking with James and Bill. He glances over at me again, and again, my knees go weak. When am I ever going to be able to control myself around him?
Out of the corner of my eye, I see that Bill’s looking at Jake and then back at me. He winks at me, and then he whispers something in Jake’s ear. Jake, seemingly offended by whatever Bill’s just said, tries to shrug him off. “Just keeping it real, Jake. I better go find my lovely wife as it’s time to head on out.”
James, who is completely oblivious to what’s happening, walks over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. With an impish grin he states, “Remember what I said. If you ever feel the need, just call me, okay? I’ll be waiting.” He then licks his lips as he sweeps his eyes up and down